A sorry state

Extraordinary that some still have an apologetic air about menswear. What a waste of energy! All that repetitive blah about blokes not caring about clothes. It's as presumptuous and inaccurate as the belief that gays always look good. It's individuals who demand interest, not broad, blundering strokes of a stereotyping brush.

Here's an email from Jordan, a music teacher from London. I find him interesting. "Being a postgrad student, the expendable income diminishes by the day, and this, teamed with a lack of anything inspiring in the high street, has led me to start altering and redesigning my clothes." He wants to find a good guide to sewing, to "give my alterations a little more durability".

My fingers are thumbs so, to my shame, I don't own a single sewing book. Go to London's best fashion bookshop, RD Franks, just north of Oxford Street on Market Place (020-7636 1244, rdfranks.co.uk).

I'm all in favour of this home-made action, but Jordan wants short-term alternatives, too. His is a familiar cry: good clothes, but cheap. We bemoan the demise of Jigsaw Menswear, the short-lived, upstart store that understood our desire for affordable, intelligent design. That early 90s store was appropriate for its time, and won't be repeated. But there are flickers of hope: Topman Design, a capsule high-fashion range being drip-fed into the Oxford Circus store, is disproving the lie that men hate shopping. Spend a few minutes in Topman to see the number of young men, gay or straight, eagerly shopping with other male friends. Not forcibly, no girlfriend battering them to sweater submission, just men gaining pleasure from sociability. Topman Design: so good next season, as seen on the London Fashion Week catwalk, there are plans to roll out the line around the country soon.